a not-so-happy new year

this is horrible.

in addition, a freelance photog that worked with us in nairobi was out snapping shots of the scene unfolding in one of the slums on the east side of the city center when he saw a minivan full of travelers stopped by an angry mob, emptied of passengers and members of certain tribes hacked with pangas (crude machetes). the vehicle was then torched after a thorough looting of the remaining passengers.

i'm finding it truly hard to believe that this is happening in kenya... and finding it incredible, also, to hear the names of the top players butchered in broadcasts rife with misinformation about the country. Raila is pronounced rye-luh, not rye-lee as the CNN correspondent persists in calling him, Mwai (M-why, not Mwhah - a wet kiss) and the Luos are not the second largest tribe in Kenya, as has been reported, but in fact a distant fourth or fifth.

meanwhile, no word from the government (who deny the widespread violence as minor incidents "here and there") and inflammatory words from the opposition ("genocide") who would rather see people die, apparently, than mediate any kind of temporary solution to calm things down. [the account provided by george karanja in this ap update of the happenings at the church in eldoret are particularly heartbreaking.]

continued bloodshed, with a side of egregiousness

from what my friends are telling me, this article pretty accurately captures the mood on the ground in kenya.

check out the video footage posted by CNN; pretty horrific.

as a journalist, i wish i were still in nairobi able to report on this. but as someone who called kenya my home for nearly two years - i'm glad i don't have to see this with my own eyes. it's heartbreaking.

in other completely unrelated and lighthearted news: am currently reading Inside Inside, James Lipton's memoir of sorts. I know, I know, but I couldn't resist. It's worth it just for the self-importance contained in the first chapter alone. you can't help but be entertained. seriously.

aftermath, part three

from an Associated Press update:

"We have been rigged out, we are not going to accept defeat," said 24-year-old James Onyango, who lives in Nairobi's Kibera slum. "We are ready to die and we're ready for serious killings."